Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Catching Up

Hello again.

Once again I have taken way too long to post on here, but I'm back and have a list things to share.House Hunting! My hunny, the kiddo, and I are looking for a place to live, but it just seems so hard to find a place that we all like and that we know we will be able to afford. I found a place that I absolutely loved and while I know we can afford it when the hunny is working, he is laid off about 1/2 the year and the kiddo's child support is rare. So we keep looking, hoping to find something that we know we can afford even on those really bad months and yet has enough space for the 3 of us. NOT an easy task in this town. I just keep reminding myself that everything will work out the way it is supposed to.

The Kiddo!My kiddo started 3rd grade this past Monday. The time seems to go by way too quickly. This past weekend he ran in his first 5K Race. Ethan's best friend, Jimmy had an older sister who died in 2004 at the age of 6, from a brain tumor. This year was the 2nd annual Paulina Cooper Dot to Dot 5K in Overland Park, Kansas to benefit pediatric brain tumor research . His time was 53 minutes 16 seconds. I realize that isn't the best of times, but I was so impressed that he finished. Here he is, almost to the finish line. His buddy Jimmy took 2nd in their age group and his buddy Stephen took 3rd for their age group.

I didn't run this year, I've been having problems with a pinched nerve in my back, so instead I just helped along the race route, but I really hope that next year I can run with the Kiddo.

A Gift from My Hunny!Every year at the end of July downtown Lawrence has a huge sidewalk sale. Every single store in downtown Lawrence puts items on sale and the town swamps Massachussets street in search of the annual bargains. I avoid this for the most part... I can not stand the crowds, elbowing and shoving for a few dollars off some item. But this year around 7:00 in the evening my hunny said, so aren't we going to go to the sidewalk sale? So off we went... and as is usual for me, I conveniently always find a parking spot right in front of the Yarn Barn. So we go in and I start browsing the sale yarn. After about 15 minutes my hunny returns from wherever he had disappeared to and starts asking me to tell him about drumcarders... how often would I use one, how long do they last, have I ever seen any used ones for sale, etc. Next thing I know he is buying me this...

So I am now the proud owner of an Ashford Drum Carder. I have been having SOOOOO much fun with it. This was my early birthday present!!

A finished Object!I've been on a major spinning spree lately... so the majority of the finished objects I have to share is yarn. There is too much to share all in one posting, so I'll just spread it out over a few postings.

In May my mom and I went to a little fiber fest in Mission, Kansas. She purchased a bag of misc. wool locks that had been naturally died with plants and she bought a bag of natural white merino. The plan of course was that I would spin it for her, but I was at a loss for HOW. Some of the died locks were slightly felted from their dying and there was a fair amount of vegetable matter. I had no clue how to deal with this. The Yarn Barn had a Spinning Open Study in July and I took the bags with me to ask the others what to do. The instructor suggested that I take advantage of the available drum carder. So I spent about an hour running the locks through the carder, and then about another half hour blending the dyed fibers with the natural colored merino. Then I began spinning it...the result was a slightly tweed looking green single... but it just seemed to need something a little different, so I bought more natural white colored merino and spun up an equal amount and then plied it with the green. The result was a really nice green and white tweed looking yarn.

Name - Handspun: Green/White Tweed

Made for - MomSpecs - 775 yards Worsted (12WPI)

Project Started - July 12, 2008Project Finished - August 13, 2008

This was one of my WIP Wrestling projects for the Ravelympics

Next Time:More finished objects, another gift from my hunny, and hopefully I'll have a house to tell you about.

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The Story of Me

***35 years old
***Married Scott Hanks on 9/25/09
***Mom to 10 year-old Ethan
***Human Resources Specialist
***Interests Include:
*~Spinning & Knitting mostly! I can also sew, crochet, cross-stitch, etc. but do not enjoy them nearly as much... I just can't quit knitting and spinning.
*~Coaching Ethan's sports - Bowling and Baseball mostly, and cheering only during basketball
*~Spending time with family & friends